Is it a show? 

An album? 

A new holiday tradition? 

Three great questions with one ding dang answer, Hell yeah it is! It’s Christmas to the Bone, baby.

THE SONGS

The songs came first… meaning I was writing Xmas tunes before I ever thought of recording one, let alone an album. As a kid The Beach Boys, Phil Spector, and Jackson 5 holiday albums were in constant rotation for me, even in the middle of the summer. I guess I always thought of Christmas records(the great ones at least) as their own genre, or a certain kind of concept record. 

NEW TRADITIONS

About 10 years ago my family made up a new tradition of sorts. On Christmas Eve we would get together and write new and mostly ridiculous “Christmas carols” (this is when I wrote the first few Xmas songs). Then we would wait till around two am to start knocking on people doors, when they finally came out they were greeted with our New Classics…. We lost a few friends, but we gained a cult following. Friends and family began asking to be included on our naughty list and we obliged in style!!!!

THE SPECIAL

During a certain time when the entire world went on pause and musicians like myself, who had lived their whole lives on tour, were forced to sit still and consider life without music or at least live music…. I hatched a plan. My friend Reid and I would finally reveal that we were in fact the Night Night Cuddle Bois, and the NNCB’s were gonna get in a room and talk about music and out on a totally different kind of concert.  So I called some buddies, we got tested, we masked up, and we pulled together a Christmas special unlike anything anyone had seen. We flooded my studio, Automatic Dice, with more holiday cheer than anyone thought possible. We exposed the world to a new way to celebrate the most wonderful time of the year, and people loved it!

THE TOUR

Xmas to the Bone holds a special place in touring history. We were the first act to tour on a record two years before it would actually be released. The songs were just so powerful, it seemed like people knew them before I even wrote them. The tour was the moment I realized we had stumbled into something special. The show was wild and fun and even boozey, but at the end of the night I got so many tearful hugs from people telling me about how they used to love Christmas but hadn’t celebrated in years because of some trauma or tragedy connected to the season. Some people just hated the classic Xmas songs so much that it had Scrooge’d them out of the joy they used to feel as kids. I don’t if it was the show, or the songs, or maybe just some magic in the air, but it felt like we had all just found a new Holiday or at least a new tradition made just for us. I won’t say that I planned it that way, but I was definitely stoked about it. 

THE ALBUM

I’ve worked on a bunch of records and I love them all for different reasons. I love “Christmas to the Bone” because it was a gift. For two weeks I would walk out to my little garden studio and each day a new song would come to me, I just had to show up and unwrap it. When it came time to record the band came in hot…real hot, it was august in richmond va and we were sweating for real. I showed the dudes the songs for the first time when they showed up to the studio. So in 4 days we learned/arranged/tracked all the basics the process was taxing but led to some very mystical performances. I then spent two weeks playing nothing but jingle bells. After that it was just a matter of singing my ass off on any of the tracks that we hadn’t cut the vocals live.  Then I went on a three day no sleep suicide mission to mix the dang thing. I saw a vision, I saw a ghost, I fell asleep and woke up to a record I am beyond proud of. 

How do you celebrate Xmas to the Bone? The easy answer is however you want!

If you can make it to the tour definitely do that. 

Love holiday stuff but hate family gatherings where you have to pretend to be happy so you don’t ruin other people’s Xmas? Stay home, blast the record, drink your drink, and be chill. (If you want)

Go on a road trip and blast the record. 

Buy yourself something nice and blast the record. 

Cover your friends shift so they can go home for the holidays. 

Then blast the record. 

Dance party at your house, white elephant, dirty Santa, old traditions, no traditions. 

Whatever it is do it (if you want)!

Take a holiday from expectations/baggage/pressure/pain and indulge in celebration! Cry a little. Sing a little. Get tender then get wild! Do what you want for at least 10 songs. All ya got to do is take Christmas to the Bone!!!!! 

- J Roddy